The project idea "INCLUSO" is aimed at creating an inclusive and accessible children's playground in which children with and without disabilities meet and play together experiencing sociality, exercising imagination and developing proper cognitive-motor growth.
Local
Italy
Genova, Liguria.
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual
{Empty}
Yes
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites
The 'INCLUSO' project idea envisages the creation of an inclusive playground for all children, in particular for those with psycho-motor and visual disabilities. The photomontage uploaded in the submission gives an abstract vision of what the playground could look like. The "INCLUSO" playground I hypothesise could be realised within the new "Waterfront di Levante" space in Genoa designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, a vast area facing the sea destined for new housing, premises, surrounded by palm trees and tamarisk trees. As can be seen from the photomontage, the playground takes up the theme of the sea; the pavement has a horizontal surface and slight undulations that can be walked on, even by children in wheelchairs, and can also be explored by crawling with the whole body. There will be accessible equipment and elements reminiscent of the sea, boats, sand and stones to stimulate the sensory side of children especially with cognitive disabilities, musical instruments to stimulate hearing and rhythm and be an orientation aid for children with low vision. The equipment is expected to be designed to ensure that children with and without disabilities can play together. It is also envisaged that the equipment can be made from sustainable and recyclable materials using low material and energy consumption solutions. Conscious use of colour, bright and pleasant shades that are helpful to the child with low vision and attractive to all children. The uploaded image is the result of three postcards stuck together. I imagine sending them to the Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci, one to the President of Liguria Giovanni Toti and the last to the architect Renzo Piano. By joining the postcards together you will have the complete picture! I hypothesise that a decision will be made together to create an inclusive playground, in which therapist designers will take part, working closely with each other and with citizens with surveys and workshops in order to achieve a design for all.
Inclusion
Accessibility
Disability
Children
Education
The 'INCLUSO' project idea envisages the creation of an equipped play area for all children with a special focus on facilities for children with psycho-cognitive disabilities. Given the recent themes, the design of this children's playground takes into account aspects of sustainability, referring in this case to the use of ecological and recyclable materials and construction methods that reduce environmental impact and can be used efficiently and sustainably.
The 'INCLUSO' project invites the use of wood, plastic and metals from waste and recycling cycles to build slides, swings and other play elements. Sand and stones are used to create natural and sensory environments with which to stimulate touch.
The "INCLUSO" project invites the study and design of individual play equipment in such a way that it can best be adapted to the children's needs and solutions that use less material to make them and at the same time have safe and ergonomic play equipment.
There should be few elements that make up the play equipment so that at the end of its life it is easier to sort and dispose of the waste.
"INCLUSO" is proposed to be realised in a space surrounded by trees so that it also has shade and is as close to nature as possible.
"INCLUSO" takes into account the lighting of the play area by using lights that are recharged using small photovoltaic panels placed on top of the lamppost.
When we talk about the growth of children, it is necessary to deal with the aesthetic and quality part of the experience, as children observe, act and thus learn, experience.
The playground is one of the places where children move, explore space, get to know, make friends, cooperate, play. All these actions are possible if the space is designed with their needs in mind. We talk about ergonomic design but above all about inclusive design.
"INCLUSO" wants to be a design idea that focuses on the concepts of inclusiveness and accessibility, where all children, including those with psycho-motor problems, meet and have the possibility of active participation.
Active participation by children with psycho-motor limitations is given thanks to easily accessible equipment, usable by children in wheelchairs or with motor disabilities, with the correct positioning of the space, free of unsafe elements and spaced out in such a way as to allow passage and guarantee exploration of all spaces.
Children with wheelchairs but also children with cognitive impairments, the quality of the experience also looks to solutions that seek to stimulate the cognitive side through the use of bright colours and interesting shapes and equipment that encourages learning through play by providing opportunities for exploration, discovery and creativity.
Indeed, an attractive and well-designed playground is more likely to attract children and encourage them to play and spend time outdoors.
A meeting place that takes diversity into account but also seeks solutions so that these diversities can live and play together, diversities that are not only psycho-physical but also cultural.
At the playground there are children from many cultures, the playground must be designed to be a place where children and families can meet and compare different cultures so that it can become a place where families and cultures meet and accept and contaminate each other.
In the 'INCLUDED' project idea, the issues of accessibility and inclusiveness are fundamental.
The objective in fact, as mentioned above, is to guarantee play for all children through a design based on design for all.
The concept of "all" is difficult to realise, but with correct design, the possibility of meeting different needs can be greatly expanded. The aim of 'INCLUSO' is that the equipment must be designed so that it can be safe and easily used by children with physical or mental disabilities with the use of ramps, accessible and wheelchair-accessible gradients, colours and shapes that are helpful to children with cognitive problems or low vision so that they are more easily distinguishable and recognisable. Braille signs and sensory games for children with visual and cognitive impairments can also be provided.
Safety is another important factor in the accessibility of the playground. It is necessary that the equipment is safe for all children and that there are rest and rescue areas for children with special needs.
With these arrangements, children with psycho-motor difficulties can have greater freedom of movement and consequently develop psycho-motor skills, greater involvement and reduced social exclusion. New opportunities for participation and growth are created, the child learns to move and manage independently thanks to the presence of equipment designed to help them.
In the 'INCLUSO' project, the active participation of citizens is of fundamental importance in order to receive suggestions from those who live in the city and the area.
The playground promotes social integration and understanding of diversity, expresses a sense of belonging and well-being for those who live there. It follows from these observations that citizen involvement in design is important! I imagine that at first the team of technical professionals and therapists will work closely together to formulate an online questionnaire to be sent to neighbourhood citizens and families to express what their problems, wishes, suggestions are in the design of the space, layout and design. Contact with families of children with visual and psycho-motor difficulties will be crucial so that they can give their input in terms of inclusiveness and accessibility. After identifying the problems to be solved, preferences, cues and having a clearer abstract idea from the citizens, one could think of setting up a workshop where children and families get together one afternoon and under the guidance of a team of therapists and designers begin to draw, cut out and glue the playground of their dreams. The 'works of art' created by parents and children will be hung in the designers' studio and analysed together with the therapists to identify the salient points common to all the drawings. The drawings will be the guidelines on which the entire design will be based. By allowing time for the design and realisation, it is imagined that at the end of the work a small event will be organised where children and families will put an end to the work by planting seedlings and flowers around the playground under the guidance of professional gardeners.
"INCLUSO" to be put into practice is hypothesised to be realised in the new space that is being built in Genoa called Waterfront di Levante Renzo Piano Bulding Workshop, a vast area in the Foce district that envisages the realisation of public and private buildings overlooking the sea, not only that, but also a large urban park with palm trees and tamarisk trees.
I think that "INCLUSO" could find a place within this new area that will become a meeting place for families, tourist workers, a perfect place where families with children will go, the ideal place to design an inclusive playground.
The image uploaded in the submission depicts a photomontage of what could be the playground built around the theme of the sea, with linear and occasionally undulating paving reminiscent of waves, accessible games and children playing surrounded by trees. The image has a horizontal development because it can be divided into three separate postcards.
I decided to make three separate postcards because I imagine sending one to the Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci, one to the President of Liguria Giovanni Toti and the last to the architect Renzo Piano. In these postcards I would write that I would like an inclusive playground to be built within the new space of Genoa's Waterfront and that the postcard I received with the photomontage is only one part of the three postcards sent. I would write that to see the complete photomontage, the three postcards must be joined together and a meeting arranged with the people involved, whose names and surnames I would give.
I would positively imagine that the mayor-president and architect will meet to talk about it and decide to realise it. Maybe they will contact me, designers and experts on psycho-cognitive and visual disorders and difficulties will be involved, the design will be made, and then the work will start.
To realise a project that meets the criteria of design for all, I think it is necessary to involve expert groups from different worlds. I think in this case one could distinguish between a group of technical designers and a group of experts who are in direct contact with children with cognitive and visual motor difficulties.
For the technical part, I would involve a team of architects who would design the playground facility, taking into account accessibility, safety and functionality of the spaces, and that the facility would be well integrated with its surroundings, working closely with the designers who would work to create an attractive and appealing aesthetic for the playground and at the same time functional and accessible. Working alongside the designers will be experts in safety and ergonomics to create a safe and ergonomic place. On the other hand, there will be a team of professionals who have knowledge in the field of motor, cognitive and visual difficulties, such as psychologists, educationalists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, typhlologists and behavioural therapists, to whom the group mentioned at the beginning will always refer.
Compared to a classic playground, the inclusive playground has very different aspects!
Here, the issue of accessibility and that of inclusivity is addressed, an issue that is still being put or pushed into the background today despite its importance.
"INCLUSO" wants to ensure that more children are able to leave kindergarten, school, home, to be outdoors and play together despite psycho-motor difficulties. "INCLUSO" proposes the inclusion not only of new and ergonomic equipment but also the accessible design of the space. I am not talking about the simple placement of games in the space but the study of their correct positioning and arrangement to give an order, a sense that is comprehensible for children who move around in wheelchairs, for children who have poor eyesight, for children who have cognitive disorders.
"INCLUSO" also proposes the conscious choice of materials to be used for their construction, ensuring that in addition to being an inclusive playground, it is also a sustainable and nature-conscious playground.
"INCLUSO" takes as a case study the area under construction of the Waterfront in Genoa, but it can be replicated in different contexts because a playground can be accessible with just a few tricks and, above all, there should be many of them to allow safe outdoor play for children. Obviously, children's playgrounds cannot always be the same because they have to adapt to different needs, to different locations such as suburbs, cities, the countryside, the sea, the mountains, availability of space, economic availability, variables related to weather conditions, the presence of wild animals, traffic in the vicinity, the density of children... Playgrounds can be built anywhere, but paying attention to the variables of the territory. "INCLUSO" wants to be a starting point for the creation of new accessible playgrounds for children, it wants to draw attention to an issue that has been neglected for years, inclusive playgrounds can and must exist in every neighbourhood, in every city, in every country.
Children are the adults of tomorrow!
We are in an age where individualism and withdrawal prevail. Children come into contact with technological devices at an increasingly early age, taking away the opportunity to play outdoors and to build and grow up in contact with other children. It is necessary to educate the child to live a healthier life, to rediscover the pleasure of communal living and spending time outdoors with other children.
Through open-air play with peers and valuable teaching, the child acts on the personal psychic and physical side. For the former, the child learns and develops sensitivity and emotionality, recognises itself and recognises the lives of others. It learns rules and how to live together, developing critical thinking and communicating effectively, all essential skills for a balanced future life. His emotional education in contact with people ensures that he can learn to confront and experience himself in order to be ready tomorrow to make informed and conscious decisions. From a physical point of view, play on the playground gives benefits on a motor and cognitive level, children develop e.g. hand-eye coordination, flexibility and balance, they exercise parts of the body that are hardly used. With beautiful and accessible games, their vision, creativity and imagination are stimulated. Children therefore gain experience through play. Education provides them with the skills, knowledge and abilities needed to become active and responsible citizens, and to ensure a better future for society .
